ART PARIS ART FAIR 2024: FOUR ARTISTS EXPLORING TRADITION AND ABSTRACT GEOMETRY AT THE GRAND PALAIS ÉPHÉMÈRE

In spring 2024, Oniris.art took part for the sixteenth time in Art Paris Art Fair, held at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris. For this new edition, the gallery presented four artists: Nicolas Chardon, Norman Dilworth, Vera Molnar and Olivier Petiteau, brought together around a central theme: artistic transmission. Through a selection of paintings and sculptures, this project highlighted the artistic connections between several generations of artists represented by the gallery. It also reflected the intergenerational transmission that has shaped Oniris's history since Florent Paumelle succeeded his mother as head of the gallery more than twelve years ago. Since its founding in 1986, Oniris has developed an exhibition programme focused on explorations of geometric abstraction and its many forms of expression. At Art Paris Art Fair 2024, this artistic identity was expressed through four distinctive approaches, each questioning, in its own way, the concepts of form, structure, repetition, movement and transformation.

Art Paris Art Fair 2024: Artistic Transmission at the Heart of Oniris.art's Presentation

For its sixteenth participation in Art Paris Art Fair, Oniris.art chose to place artistic transmission at the heart of its presentation. This concept operates on several levels: the transmission of a family and artistic history, dialogue between generations, and the exchange of ideas and forms within contemporary art. The project brings together four artists whose backgrounds and practices differ, yet who share an interest in geometric construction and the expressive possibilities of abstraction. From Nicolas Chardon's paintings to Norman Dilworth's sculptures, from Vera Molnar's geometric and computer-based experiments to Olivier Petiteau's multidisciplinary creations, this selection offers an open perspective on contemporary abstraction. Geometry is never considered a fixed visual language. Instead, it becomes a field of experimentation, a set of rules that can be transformed, displaced or subverted. Each artist thus develops a personal approach to form and its relationship with space, material and movement.

Nicolas Chardon: Geometric Abstraction Confronted with Reality

Nicolas Chardon (born 1974) has developed a distinctive painting practice that questions the foundations of geometric abstraction. His work draws in particular on historical Suprematist motifs, which he revisits by introducing elements from everyday life and the material world. In his works, geometry encounters unexpected supports. Rather than using traditional canvas, the artist chooses ordinary fabrics, such as madras and gingham, whose checked patterns provide an initial geometric structure. These fabrics, originally regular and orthogonal, are subsequently distorted when stretched and attached to their frames. Lines shift, squares become distorted and the original regularity of the pattern is disrupted. The abstract shapes painted by the artist then take their place within this transformed, irregular structure. Nicolas Chardon's work is thus based on a subtle interplay between order and disorder, geometry and chance, abstraction and material reality. With humour and freedom, he reinterprets the conventions of geometric abstraction and reveals the limitations of mathematical perfection when confronted with the physical constraints of the real world. His paintings offer a renewed perspective on geometric abstraction by making the support itself an essential element of the composition.

Norman Dilworth: Sculpture as the Construction of Space

Norman Dilworth (1931–2023) was a major figure in geometric abstraction and Concrete Art. After exploring the possibilities of painting and drawing, he gradually developed a sculptural practice that became a central part of his work from the 1970s onwards. His early research focused on geometric forms, their relationships and their organisation within space. With sculpture, this exploration took on a new dimension: his works were no longer simply objects designed to structure three-dimensional space, but acquired their own identity and became autonomous constructions. Norman Dilworth's sculptures develop in space from their point of origin. Their construction is based on geometric principles and structural systems that determine their organisation and spatial development. Each work thus creates its own dimensional space, arising from its concrete, material and visual genesis. Form is not simply placed within space: it constructs and reveals it. Through his sculptures, Norman Dilworth offers a rigorous yet sensitive approach to abstraction, in which geometry becomes a means of exploring the relationships between volume, material, structure and perception.

Vera Molnar: Geometry, Computers and Creative Freedom

Vera Molnar (1924–2023) was a pioneering figure in geometric art and computer art. From the 1960s onwards, she was among the first artists to use computers as tools for artistic creation, opening up new perspectives in the history of abstraction. Since the 1950s, her work had been rooted in an extensive exploration of geometric abstraction. She investigated the possibilities offered by elementary forms, particularly lines and squares, as well as their transformations, displacements and repetitions. Her visual vocabulary is based on a remarkable economy of means: lines, squares, grids and white, black or coloured surfaces create a visual universe in which every variation matters. By developing computer programmes based on mathematical rules, Vera Molnar introduced a new dimension into her creative process. Computers enabled her to multiply transformations, generate systematic variations and introduce disruptions into initially regular geometric structures.

This method, reminiscent of scientific experimentation, produced unexpected results and revealed new expressive possibilities. The rigour of the programme thus became the starting point for genuine imaginative freedom. Her work demonstrates a profoundly innovative approach to the relationship between art, mathematics and computing. By exploring the possibilities of algorithmic creation, Vera Molnar helped lay the foundations of contemporary digital art. Her inclusion in Oniris.art's presentation at Art Paris 2024 highlights the experimental and visionary dimension of geometric abstraction, as well as its ability to renew itself through encounters with new technologies.

Olivier Petiteau: Geometry, Movement, Repetition and Mechanisms

Olivier Petiteau (born 1974) has developed a multidisciplinary artistic practice combining a wide range of techniques and skills. An artist with many facets, he explores marquetry, sculpture, music, screen printing, ink drawing and mechanical systems, among other disciplines. Despite this diversity of media, his creations are connected by recurring themes: statistics, movement, repetition and mechanisms. His work explores systems, sequences and patterns of recurrence. Forms and motifs are constructed according to principles that may evoke mathematical organisations, mechanical movements or musical structures. Repetition becomes both a compositional principle and a way of exploring variation. Movement, whether real or implied, introduces a dynamic dimension into constructions that investigate the relationships between order, rhythm and transformation. By combining traditional craft techniques, printing processes, sculptural research and musical references, Olivier Petiteau develops a personal artistic language at the intersection of several disciplines. His approach enriches the dialogue proposed by Oniris.art at Art Paris 2024, expanding the field of geometric abstraction towards contemporary questions involving systems, mechanisms and interactions between different artistic media.

Four Artists, Four Approaches to Geometric Abstraction and Artistic Transmission

The meeting of Nicolas Chardon, Norman Dilworth, Vera Molnar and Olivier Petiteau reveals the richness of artistic practices developed around geometric abstraction. Each artist creates a distinctive visual language based on geometric principles, but interprets them in a different way:

Nicolas Chardon confronts geometric motifs with the physical reality of the support and the distortions of materials.
Norman Dilworth explores the construction of three-dimensional space through sculptures based on geometric principles.
Vera Molnar renews abstraction through computer-based experimentation, algorithms and the systematic transformation of forms.
Olivier Petiteau brings together several artistic disciplines around statistics, movement, repetition and mechanisms.

These four approaches demonstrate the ability of geometric abstraction to transcend generations and reinvent itself through new practices and tools.

Artistic transmission therefore does not mean repeating a model or reproducing an existing visual language. On the contrary, it involves the continuous transformation of forms, ideas and techniques. By bringing these four artists together, Oniris.art offers a reflection on the continuity and renewal of geometric abstraction, while reaffirming an artistic identity that has been developing since the gallery was founded in 1986.

Oniris.art at Art Paris Art Fair 2024: A Story of Artistic Transmission

Oniris.art's participation in Art Paris Art Fair 2024 is part of the history of a gallery founded in 1986, whose exhibition programme has developed around contemporary art and geometric abstraction. For more than twelve years, Florent Paumelle has continued this history, succeeding his mother as head of the gallery. This family succession goes hand in hand with artistic transmission, built on encounters between artists from different generations and a desire to bring their respective practices into dialogue. The project presented at the Grand Palais Éphémère illustrates this continuity. The works of Nicolas Chardon and Olivier Petiteau, both born in 1974, resonate with those of Norman Dilworth and Vera Molnar, two historical figures of geometric abstraction. Through painting and sculpture, these four artists demonstrate that abstraction remains a living field of artistic exploration, capable of embracing new techniques, materials and ways of thinking.

Discover the Works Presented by Oniris.art at Art Paris Art Fair 2024

For its sixteenth participation in Art Paris Art Fair, Oniris.art invites visitors to discover this selection of paintings and sculptures by Nicolas Chardon, Norman Dilworth, Vera Molnar and Olivier Petiteau. This presentation, centred on artistic transmission and geometric abstraction, was exhibited at stand F7, at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris.

Discover the exhibition views of the stand and the virtual tour of Oniris.art's presentation at Art Paris Art Fair 2024.

Practical Information: Art Paris Art Fair 2024

Gallery: Oniris.art
Stand: F7
Artists presented: Nicolas Chardon, Norman Dilworth, Vera Molnar and Olivier Petiteau
Theme: Artistic transmission and geometric abstraction
Art fair: Art Paris Art Fair 2024
Dates: 4–7 April 2024
Private view: Wednesday 3 April 2024, 11 am–9 pm, by invitation and with VIP / Prestige passes.

Opening Hours

- Thursday 4 April: 12 pm–8 pm.
- Friday 5 April: 12 pm–9 pm (late opening).
- Saturday 6 April: 12 pm–8 pm.
- Sunday 7 April: 12 pm–7 pm.